Thomas County cat. [volume] (Colby, Kan.) 1885-1891, 1887-07-21
oPHiD,AM TRADITIONS
Antiquity OF tho Belief In the Existence
~ the Sea-Serpent

! Antiquity Of tho Belief In the Existencs
~ the Sea-Serpent
Summer Is the time of year when the
monster Ophidian of the sea hegins his
annual cavOrtings atop the waves
This evasive creature has come to be
one of the necessary features of a well.
organized summer. and it is decidedly
| an off year when his archaic snakeship
Is not seen sporting with the fancy
curls OF the semi-tranquil Atlantic.
The visions of the serpent last year
were not altogether clear and decisive.
That which passed for him turned out
to be a dreamily drifting log with =
tuft of sea-weed caught in its branches.
An artistic and circumstantial liar did,
to be sure. come to the rescue at the
flag end of the season with an attempt
to lasso the fantasy of berry brain.
but the simon-pure article vouched for
by reliable testimony was not sighted.
The chances are. therefore, very
largely in favor of his sinuous excel.
lency being seen in reassuring num-
bers this propitious summer. Sincere
ly is it to be hoped this time-noted
mystery of the deep will show enough
respect to the age of reason and dis
covery to let himself be discovered I'M
mistakably before the close of the
present century, and we doubt if he
could select better time for clearing
mp age-existing doubts than this par
ticular summer. Belief in the exist
ence OF the sea-serpent is as ancient as
marine history. Aristotle. Pliny and
Others OF that antique period philO-
sophically accepted tales of him. and
rs long ago as 23O A. ID. he was carved
in stone rs an evidence of faith of his
actual being. He has been spotted at
odd times down the ages. and gets in
to positive history as early rs 1855
after having survived in Scandinavian
tradition for thousand years. CLAUS
M:lgnus, Archbishop OF Upsala, good
and pious man, not unduly given to
prevarication, gives very straightfor.
ward accounts of several sea monsters
of the snake order, one of which was
impudent enough to reach up and take
a man out of full-rigged single-mas.
ter.
Rev. Hans Egede in 1884 saw SER
pent that raised itself out of the water
until its head reached above our
main-tOp." and though we may make
reasonable allowances for the exagera-
tions of fear. there is minuteness of
description that seems to make the
pinch of salt superfiuous. Bishop Bon
toppidan. of Norway. describes in his
book of natural history a sea-serpent
six hundred feet long, rs big around
as two hogsheads. These are substan-
tial whoppers. maybe. but in these lat
ter days we have the testimony of Cap
tain Eleazer Crabtree that he saw in
PenObscOt Bay a serpent one hundred
feet long. In 1903 q dead monster
fifty-five feet long. ten feet in circum-
ference, and having six paddle.like
legs. was washed ashore on the coast of
one of the Orkney Islands. At intervals
sinccs then there have been appear
ances so well vouched for that scientific
men have been much perplexed how to
reconcile their skepticism rs to bona
fide sea-serpent with the unmistak-
able some things that show up in such
provoking fashion.
The truth is. that his alleged snake
ship never comes within range for
close observation. and learned men
are now of the opinion that the snake
is really giant squid. Squads have
been captured that measured iifty-five
feet in length. These monsters when
swimming propel themselves back
ward. trailing their long arms after
them, so that ut distance they might
readily be mistaken for genuine SER
pents Until the serpent consents to
come into port for inspection the skep-
teal are warranted in doing tradition
the indignity of believing that it has
no other basis for this monster 0phid-
ian than the back-scuttle of squid.-
Chicago Inter Ocean.
~
A Marvellous wafrh